Thursday, March 6, 2014

Why Jesus doesn't "Like" your Facebook Post

Oh facebook viral posts. Where would we be without your ever present condemning gaze? This week has been a hard one for me mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I mean I reallllly dropped the ball for Jesus this week..... Though I had the chance to declare that I love Jesus...

.... I didn't do it....

Later, I had a chance to declare Jesus was my friend....

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Well, I didn't do that either....

Then, sadly, I was part of the 97%...

After that, I decided that God wasn't actually good....

It's probably because I don't know how to have powerful prayer....

Are you sick of seeing these types of posts all over your wall? And it isn't just the pseudo-Christians who are getting into the act. Every day we have a long list of "share this if you support "x" posts to browse through.

Maybe I am some sort of monster because I clearly do not support enough important causes....on Facebook.....

Why do we as a culture find these "like and share" images so compelling? Do we actually believe that clicking like on some random picture with some Microsoft paint text superimposed on it makes a difference?

You and I need to understand something very essential about who God is, and, who He isn't.

He is GOD. This means He is not beholden to anything we do or don't do. We cannot manipulate Him through magic words and fancy posts and online petitions. There is a sense of Neo-Paganism that seeps into modern Christianity that seems to think we have the ability to manage and influence the Deity through some actions on our part.

One of my favorite events in the Old Testament is the Tower of Babel. What is somewhat lost in the English is what it is they are really building. They aren't building a skyscraper, they are building a ziggurat. In ancient Mesopotamia a ziggurat was a large temple that you built for a god. Since it was so big and tall the god would come to rest on the top(since he lived "above" them). After he was good and rested he would then walk down the tower to the temple that would be placed at the bottom where he would be obligated to provide blessings for the nice people who built him such a fancy place to rest.

The evil that was in mans heart was that they no longer wanted to take orders from God, they wanted to start telling God what to do. We will build this tower, you know, to be nice, then you HAVE to do something for us. So what did God do? For their own sake, he frustrated their attempts to pretend that they could be in charge.

Does this sound familiar? I am going to do something fancy pants for God/Jesus and He is just going to be so impressed He will absolutely do something for me.

Jesus--The Holy Vending Machine.

Perhaps you think you are just declaring your love for Jesus, because Romans 10 tells you do so! Well...kinda. The concept of declaring Jesus as Lord is interwoven with a lifestyle of confession, repentance, and active belief. Just saying "Jesus is Lord" doesn't actually mean you are living as if He is.

If you liked the Office with Steve Carrel you probably remember when he is having financial trouble. He is advised to declare bankruptcy. So, he goes into the middle of the office and shouts, "I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY". hahahahahahhaa you and I said at home.

That is basically what we are showing when we click and share all these posts. Very rarely is our life reflective of discipleship. Just like the Babelians(?) we want to keep things easy for us.

Actually repenting of sin...HARD. Clicking "share" on a post that says I know God has a plan for everything.....EASY!!

Actually helping a homeless person....HARD. Clicking "share" on a post about how nice it was that someone was nice to a homeless person....EASY!!

Do everyone, especially yourself a big favor. Stop clicking like and share. Start doing the hard work of living out the truth of those viral posts you seem to be so enamored by.

2 comments:

To add a small question to all of this as informal poll. Is it just me, or are the people who are most likely to "share" a "God" post also the ones who are the most likely to share inappropriate and sexual posts as well....or is that just my newsfeed??

Good post, Adam. Christians would do well to acquaint themselves with the attributes of God (particularly His holiness and aseity). Furthermore, we must recognize and understand the what and why with regard to the indicatives (what has already been done for us) and imperatives (what we shall now do in response) of the gospel.